The Bab Ballads, with Which Are Included Songs of a Savoyard

by W. S. Gilbert

Yes, on reconsideration, there are customs of that nation

Which are not in strict accordance with the habits of our day,

And when I come to codify, their rules I mean to modify,

Or Mrs. Grundy, p'r'aps, may have a word or two to say:

For they hadn't macintoshes or umbrellas or goloshes—

And a shower with their dresses must have played the very deuce,

And it must have been unpleasing when they caught a fit of sneezing,

For, it seems, of pocket-handkerchiefs they didn't know the use.

They wore little underclothing—scarcely anything—or no-thing—